Notebook: Bryant enjoying pre-draft process

The former Indiana forward spent his Monday morning in Portland for a workout with the Blazers, the latest in a string of pre-NBA Draft visits with teams across the league.

Bryant estimates Monday was his “seventh or eighth” team workout since officially deciding to leave IU in late April, and while the pre-draft process can be draining, Bryant says he’s enjoying himself and looking forward to beginning his professional career.

“It can get tiring sometimes, but you’ve got to love it,” Bryant told reporters in Portland. “I wouldn’t trade this for anything else. Besides, with all the traveling there is now, if you expect to be on an NBA team, you’ve got 82 games in a season. You working out for 15 or 16 teams — that’s not even half of the year. Gotta get used to it.”

Bryant was reunited at the Blazers’ facility with Big Ten rival Caleb Swanigan, formerly of Purdue. Also reportedly working out for Portland on Monday was Southeast Missouri State’s Antonius Cleveland, Dayton’s Charles Cookie, Arizona’s Kobi Simmons and Monmouth’s Justin Robinson.

Bryant, who worked out with the Utah Jazz on Sunday, says he’s been trying to show teams his versatility as a forward since beginning the workout process in the past month. That includes trying to demonstrate that he’s a capable — and competent — 3-point shooter after shooting 38 percent (23-for-60) from distance during his sophomore year at IU last season.

“I feel like I can bring a lot to an NBA team,” he said. “(I’m trying to show) communication on the defensive and offensive end … being able to guard the inside, a little bit on the outside and showing the versatility on the offensive end as well.”

With a “few more” workouts lined up ahead of the June 22 NBA Draft, Bryant is looking to solidify his stock. In its latest mock draft, Draft Express has Bryant going to the Boston Celtics with the seventh pick of the second round.

Bryant is listed at No. 38 in DraftExpress’ top 100 prospects.

“I love it, just going to different cities, playing against different people and learning from different coaching staffs,” Bryant said. “I like it a lot. It’s a dream.”

Miller will host two four-day camps and a one-day shooting clinic. To register, visit hoosiersportscamps.com.

The day camps, which last from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature skill development, individual attention and competitions, including five-on-five play. The first day camp runs June 19 through June 22. The second runs June 26 through June 29. Both sessions are tailored for children in grades two through nine.

The shooting clinic, aimed at children in grades five through 10, will teach young players how to develop a shooting program similar to one used by IU players. It will run from 9 a.m. to noon on June 23.

Oladipo hosting camp in Greenwood
Former Indiana star Victor Oladipo is hosting a youth basketball camp in Greenwood from June 19 through 23.

The camp, which will take place at the Community Life Center, will feature hands-on instruction from Oladipo and other counselors with college and professional experience.

Meanwhile, Kelvin Sampson remains the poster child as an NCAA prime target; a coach who was subsequently banned from college basketball for five years(a longer penalty than the years Penn State was removed from bowl participation), publicly vilified and condemned as the supreme “wrecker” of all the wholesome virtues existing in all of college sports, relegated via such misplaced condemnation to a coaching life that will never again include highly visible, tradition-rich, programs …..all because he made some 3-way calls to recruits? Do you think it’s a white man’s world in college sports?

A 3-way caller who took chances on a handful of players indoctrinated into the massive shortcomings of inner city failures in educational systems/schools is the Charles Manson of college sports compared to child molestation in college locker rooms, coaches acting as pimps, administrators giving cover to athletes involved in campus rapes, and systemic academic corruption at an “elite” institution promoting fraudulent/ghost classes placed on official transcripts of their “student” athletes…?

How dare you, Kelvin? How dare you violate the purity and sanctity of amateur athletics like no other.